3 World titles in the first 6 years in F1

On this day, Ken Tyrrell sold his World Championship winning team to the BAR consortium headed by Craig Pollock.

After having won three titles in his first six years as an entrant, the teams fortunes slowly gave way to midfield mediocrity before the cost of racing forced this proud man to sell. After a disagreement over Riccardo Rosset with the BAR team, he removed his name from the 1998 entry and survived a further three years in declining health.

Jackie Stewart had played a huge part in the early years and his protege Francois Cevert was killed at Watkins Glen in 1973. Over the following years, Tyrrell introduced the seminal six-wheeler car and would prove to be a supremely gifted talent spotter but the writing was on the wall as F1 entered the decadent 90’s.

With the last victory for the team being Michele Alboreto’s victory at the 1983 Detroit Grand Prix, the team saw out their remaining years with ever decreasing performance – although Jean Alesi in 1990 surprised many – and although the team became a fixture in the history books, the genesis of the current Mercedes team can be traced back to the remains of the glorious blue Elf sponsored cars.